<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Coming to the Hallmark Channel, Winter of 2020 by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23862502">Coming to the Hallmark Channel, Winter of 2020</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion'>Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Law &amp; Order: SVU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Prompt Fill, bingo prompt, gratuitous mention of Hallmark movies, meet cute</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:34:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,144</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23862502</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rafael and Sonny have a meet cute at Harvard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>77</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>April 2020 Barisi Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Coming to the Hallmark Channel, Winter of 2020</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rafael looks out his dorm room window on the first day of finals and groans at the amount of ice he can see on the ground. It's been threatening some sort of winter bullshit for the last couple of weeks, but he'd hoped he'd at least be on his way back to New York before it hit. </p><p>He gets dressed with a grumble as he mentally reviews everything he can remember from his last, desperate attempt at studying for his anthro final sometime around four in the morning. He's doing the same review for his Italian verb forms as he pushes open the back door of the dorm and steps onto the icy sidewalk. </p><p>His dorm sits on the edge of a small hollow. It's not a steep grade to go from the back door to the main sidewalk by the dining hall, but it is technically uphill, and Rafael takes it as slowly as he can, really not wanting to fall on his ass before he even gets a cup of coffee in his system. </p><p>He's three-quarters of the way to the flatter bit of ground when his left foot slides out from under him, and his right follows immediately. He flails as the heavy weight of the backpack pulls him backwards, and he grimaces as he prepares for a hard fall. </p><p>There's a sudden, hard tug against his back, and rather than be flat on his ass staring at the sky, Rafael discovers he's standing upright again. </p><p>"You good?" Someone says from behind him. </p><p>Rafael can't speak for a moment, too shocked to not have fallen. He looks down at himself, checking for damage, but of course there is none. "Um. Yeah?"</p><p>"Okay. Cool. Hold on. I'm gonna let go."</p><p>Rafael's backpack shifts down an inch or two, and he realizes whoever just saved his ass had done so by grabbing the loop on the top of his backpack. He turns his head but keeps his feet planted and nearly gets knocked down by a pair of startling blue eyes. "Grazie," he says without thinking. </p><p>The guy's eyes crinkle as he smiles, and a pair of dimples positively take over his face. "Hey, no problem. Glad I could help. You speak Italian?"</p><p>"Not on purpose," Rafael replies.</p><p>The guy's smile widens. "Lemme guess, you're fluent in something else, but they wouldn't clear you to skip the language credit."</p><p>Rafael blinks. "Yeah," he says slowly.</p><p>The guy rolls his eyes, looking more amused than the conversation requires, but Rafael can tell it's genuine. "Same. I'm fluent in Italian, but just because I didn't get tested on it in school, it doesn't count. Thought my <em>Nonna</em> was gonna come up here and beat the shit out of my academic advisor when she heard."</p><p>"My <em>Abueltia</em> was super pissed," Rafael says. He's startled to hear himself say it. He's barely told anyone anything about himself all semester, not wanting to deal with people getting nosy or snobby if they find out his background. </p><p>"Maybe we can get them to team up next semester. Two grandmas are always scarier than one, right?"</p><p>"Sure," Rafael says, feeling himself smile at how easily this guy is talking to him. Like he didn't just save Rafael from his own stupid feet. "I'm Rafael," he says, holding out his hand. </p><p>"Sonny," the guy replies. He shakes Rafael's hand as best he can through their multiple layers of gloves. "Criminal Justice major with a Religion minor. You?"</p><p>"Pre-Law."</p><p>"Oh, hey!" Sonny says like that's the best news he's heard all morning. "You going into the dining hall? We could sit together, talk about something that isn't how fucking terrifying finals are."</p><p>"Yeah," Rafael says, surprising himself at accepting. He should bow out, grab something he can eat one-handed and go through his anthro flashcards one more time. But Sonny's smile somehow gets <em>brighter</em>, and Rafael can admit, if only to himself, that he's got a pretty good crush already. </p><p>They walk into the dining hall together, swipe their meal cards, and then split up to get food. Rafael gets a bowl of cereal, some fruit, and two cups of coffee. It's easier than going back for a refill. When he finds Sonny after, he's already sitting at a table for two, his tray filled to groaning with fruits and a huge pile of eggs and toast. </p><p>"Track scholarship," Sonny says, waving a hand at his tray. "Promised coach I'd still pretend to stay on my diet through finals, but honestly, I can't wait to get home and just eat pancakes for three days."</p><p>Rafael huffs a laugh as he takes his first sip of coffee. "Academic scholarship," he says, and that's the first time he's said it to anyone all semester. "But I am looking forward to my <em>Abueltia's</em> cooking when I'm home over break."</p><p>"Where's home?" Sonny asks. </p><p>"Close to Staten Island," Rafael says with a grin. Sonny's laugh is as open as the rest of him. </p><p>"Yeah, yeah, I got an accent. I know." He takes a bite of toast, then a swig of milk. "Which of the lesser boroughs are you from?"</p><p>"Oh, fighting words," Rafael replies. "The Bronx," he adds. </p><p>"We should hang out over break if you're not super busy or anything."</p><p>"You just met me," Rafael says, surprised. "I could be a bore."</p><p>"Bet you're not," Sonny says with such confidence Rafael has no comeback. "And besides, I just rescued you from a fall on the ice in a very romantic way. That should earn me a tryout."</p><p>"Romantic? Grabbing the loop of my backpack like I'm a doll is romantic to you?"</p><p>Sonny shrugs. "Me and my roommate have been mainlining Hallmark movies since we got back from Thanksgiving. Saving someone from falling on their ass is like the third most-common way the leads meet."</p><p>Rafael wants to snark about the Hallmark movies, but he can't. He and his roommate have been putting them on, too. "Okay, but I refuse to take part in any version of a Hallmark story where one of us ends up being magical."</p><p>"So, I shouldn't tell you I'm secretly one of Santa's elves?"</p><p>Rafael snorts. "With your dimples, I'd believe you."</p><p>Sonny laughs again. "How many tests you got today?"</p><p>"Two. Anthro and Italian."</p><p>"Me, too. History and Spanish. Wanna get dinner tonight and compare movies?"</p><p>Rafael thinks about it a moment. Sonny watches him like he's got all the time in the world. "Okay," he says. He takes a notebook out of his backpack and writes down his full name, his cell number, and his email address. "Text me when you're done."</p><p>"Yeah, I'll do that," Sonny says, and the way he smiles as he tucks the piece of paper into his jacket pocket makes Rafael feel like they really are in some sort of romantic movie.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Based on a true story, except the guy who saved me from falling on my ass by grabbing my backpack did not stick around to try his luck. His loss.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>